Time for an Update
For those of you anxiously awaiting an update on our roof situation, I have an update. And not a good one. We had two different companies inspect it, and both said we needed a new roof. One estimated the age to be between 12-15 years and the other said 17-18. Based on a quick Google of “average lifespan of asphalt single roof,” those are not good numbers.
Happy Valentine’s Day to us! Yes, this all happened on Valentine’s Day. And I couldn’t even have a glass (or 3) of wine to ease the pain. #pregnancyproblems
When we bought the house, we knew from the inspection that the roof was older and had been patched. We were going to have to put a new roof on the house at some point, we just hoped to stretch that as far out as possible. Less than a year was not the game plan.
Oh well! I don’t want to sleep under a waterfall on rainy days. We will use some of our savings to pay for that repair and put that in the February budget. Fingers crossed that no other big issues come up with the house this year.
Andrew did find a way to save us some money though on our homeowner’s insurance. He figured that since we put a new roof on, there is less liability for the insurance company. He was able to call and get them to reduce our annual premium by 5%. It’s not much but any little bit helps!
Bye, Bye Fridge!
Because my husband loves me dearly (and knows once I decide I want something, that’s it), he was willing to go look at appliances in person over President’s Day weekend. We had done research online and made a spreadsheet to get a sense of what appliances fit our budget. I love a good spreadsheet! We agreed that we wanted nice appliances, but not ones that were too expensive because it wouldn’t be worth it for the value of the house.
We keep our house value in mind when we do most of our upgrades because it is only a 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath house. We will outgrow it at some point down the road. We know it isn’t our long-term house, so resale is always in the back of our minds.
For the appliances, we knew that holiday weekends mean big sales on appliances. We decided when we first started looking that we would zone in on what we wanted and then wait for a big sale weekend to buy.
Lucky for me, that weekend arrived! We did it. We bought a new fridge, stove, and dishwasher. We put in a new microwave over the stove when we moved in because there was just a range hood and counter space was sparse. We got a really good deal on prices, and my husband negotiated them down even a little further. He is great at that and loves it. Me, totally hate it and almost blew it. I should just keep walking around the store next time.
How Did We Afford It…Comfortably?
We also did something that neither of us love doing usually. We opened the store credit card for the appliances because it gave us 18 months with no interest to pay it off. Neither of us like to carry balances on our credit cards, but we decided that with the roof also this month, we would both feel a little better if we didn’t wipe out such a large chunk of our cash reserve all at once.
Once the first statement comes in, we are going to set up automatic payments and make sure it is paid off well before the 18 months. We will both keep a close eye on it. And we will make sure we understand all the fine print because most cards like that have interest rates that skyrockets after the promotion time is up.
And this one did have some fine print. The appliances had no interest for 18 months, but the “accessories package” i.e. the new hoses for the fridge and stove only had no interest for 6 months. It’s only $47 for the accessories, but the interest rate goes up to 27% after 6 months. Woah! So, we are going to make sure that gets paid off before then for sure.
Both of us are very prudent with our money and have the same philosophy about it, which is good for our marriage, especially when it comes to big purchases. We know what the other is or isn’t comfortable with and neither of us will make big purchases like that without careful consideration. Although, don’t send me into Target alone unless you want me to come out with things from the dollar bins and some sort of seasonal décor in addition to what we really needed. Target is my happy place!
I Still Wanted the Fridge OR How to Save Money When You Can’t Find Your Money Tree
In light of the big expenses going into the budget, we also returned to our budget to see where we could save more. To start, I reviewed some articles Douglas has been in for ideas:
- Barron’s – How to Save Money When You Don’t Have Much to Save
- Mic.com – 10 easy ways to save $10 every single day: That’s an extra $3,650 a year
- ABC News – Changing Credit Cards Could Save You Money
Credit Card Shuffle & Points Hoarding
One area that has the potential to save you money, or at least feel like you are making some while you spend it is credit cards. There are tons of choices out there for card types and rewards systems that can fit every lifestyle. We have friends that travel a lot, so they have the cards that are best for travel and flights. We don’t travel that much and that will decrease even more with a dog and baby now, so that’s not a priority. What is a priority for us is everyday things like gas, groceries and restaurants (not fancy ones, but Panera, Five Guys, etc.).
When we were getting ready to buy the house, we started saving up rewards points so that we could cash them in for hundreds of dollars’ worth of gift cards to places like Home Depot. When you know you are going to buy over $1,000 in paint for the whole house, having the gift cards makes easier. Moving into a house has a lot of costs already, so we were strategic about using our rewards to push cash expenditures down the road.
We also save up reward points now for the holidays. Come November each year, we decide what gifts we are getting for family (if we don’t already have anything) and see if we can use gift cards to make those purchases. To us, it’s a nice way to stretch the budget a little farther by using those rewards points.
I <3 Costco
When we moved to the suburbs, one of the first things we did was join Costco. My husband loves a good bargain! He also finds Costco fascinating. He hates regular grocery shopping with a passion, but loves a Costco trip. Go figure?
My family has always done shopping at bulk wholesale clubs, so I’m very familiar with the drill. It’s not for everyone’s lifestyle, but we try to do it in a smart way. Here’s what we like to do:
- Buy meats in bulk and subdivide at home into freezer bags. We have an extra fridge in our garage, so we have 2 freezers to store things in.
- Buy paper goods and cleaning supplies and store the extras in a basement closet (because we have one of those in the suburbs- yay!)
- Buy pre-packaged snacks. I know it’s not the healthiest thing, but we need easy grab and go sometimes.
- Croissants. Always buy the croissants. They are my favorite! 12 is too many for me to eat before they mold because Andrew doesn’t like them, so I divide the pack in half and freeze some. Why Andrew doesn’t like them, I will never know!
- Don’t buy the fresh fruit or veggies if you won’t eat it. The two of us can’t eat such large quantities of fresh things so we buy the normal sizes at the grocery store.
Other Savings Tips from the Weitzman Household
At the regular grocery store, if they have a free rewards or frequent shopper card, we always get it. Our store lets you load coupons to the card through their website, so I don’t have to actually find a newspaper and clip coupons. We don’t subscribe to a print paper because we get our news from the internet like any good Millennial.
When we got married, we created a separate Gmail account to coordinate with all the vendors and sign up for mailing list. We still have that account open because stores will email you forever with coupons and discounts. You can never have too many Bed Bath and Beyond coupons!
When we moved, we changed our address with the USPS, and for $1 they will forward your mail and send you a whole bunch of coupons. You will get some junk mail, but also some incredibly valuable coupons. Our favorite is the 20% off your whole purchase at Bed Bath and Beyond. That coupon is gold if you are doing a big shopping trip. We saved a lot of money when we moved into our house with that one. As my husband always says about that $1 to the government, “Find me a better ROI than that one, you can’t.”
Speaking of Bed Bath and Beyond, our families also collected coupons for us when we were moving. We keep those in the car, so we always have them with us. I don’t like to ever buy anything there without a coupon. I also get the email and text ones too, leaving plenty to go around.
We also bought some furniture from Wayfair with coupon codes for new shoppers. They are always having sales too, keep an eye out if you shop there.
Puppy Deals
When we got our dog, we looked for puppy coupon books because getting all the supplies for a new dog costs lots of money. PetSmart had one you could buy for $15. I don’t like paying for coupons in that way, but we knew we would use most of them and make that money back. It gave us savings on training classes, food, toys, and even a free bath. The free bath is helpful because Jeter, our English Cream Golden Retriever, enjoys rolling around in the mud.
You Don’t Have to Be a Coupon Queen
The opportunities to save money with little effort are out there. Especially for a big purchase, you just have to look around or even be willing to negotiate. I’m not clipping coupons out of the newspaper for the grocery store, but I’ll add some from the website. I’ll check my email before I go to a store and see if I have an email coupon. I’ll buy in bulk to save a few dollars.
My life is not going to become an episode of “Extreme Couponing” to save some money. I could certainly do more to save money, but convenience wins out most of the time. Maybe I’ll do more but for now, I’ll tell Netflix that yes, I’m still watching.
P.S. I’m writing about these things based on my experiences and because I like them. No paid promotions here, although if someone wants to send us free stuff or coupons, you know where to find us!